Back in 2005, Tokyo-based game maker Konami revealed it was working on a handful of titles for the then unreleased PS3. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Gradius. MGS4 was released, but Gradius VI wasn't.

And according to the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu, the shooter's apparently been canned. As blog Andriasang points out, the game was supposedly canceled in a 2007 issue of Famitsu, but the magazine later issued a correction.

The venerable shooter debuted in Japanese arcades in 1985, and the Vic Viper fighter went on to star in a slew of games, most recently 2008's Gradius ReBirth for WiiWare and 2010's Gradius Arc. Gradius Arc, however, was a cell phone based tactical role-playing game, which will no longer be playable as of this May in Japan.

In recent years, Konami's spent more time focusing on it's boob-shooter Gradius parody Otomedius. Maybe it's hard to concentrate on hi-def Gradius with boobs around?

Kotaku is following up with Konami and will update this post should the company comment.